Garment



Jan. 2G, 1948.

H. B. NORTHRU P GARMENT Filed May 9, 1946 gmac/nm BRopD B. NORTHRUP Patented Jan. 20, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENTY OFFICE Claims.

This. invention relates to a sleeved. garment havingY means to permit greater stretch inthe region of the armhole. The invention is particularly adapted for use in connection with athletic jerseysand other garments of a generally similar nature which are worn by athletes and others, whose activities are such as to make freedom of movement of= the arms for throwing and other motions necessary.

Athletic. jerseys, sweat shirts, sweaters, and the. like, ordinarily are'made of knitted material, which, of itself, provides a certain4 amount of stretch and freedom of movement of the body.

However, it is customary to` make such garments with the wales of the knitted material of, the body section extending vertically, and the wales of. the knitted: material of the sleeves extending generally longitudinally of the sleeves. Garments so constructedY provide adequate stretch transversely of the body portion and transversely of. the sleeves, but do notV provide adequate stretch. in theA armholes, where maximum stretch is needed, to enable throwing and other similar arm motions to be freely indulged in. While the wales at theinner ends of. the sleeves which are secured to the body sectionextend in a direction such4 asy would permit adequate stretchy of the armhole, such stretching is prevented by the wales of theV body portion, where the sleeves are secured to it, extending substantially parallel to the direction in which stretch is" desired, and substantially at right angles to the direction in which the walesV ofv the'v sleeves extend.

In garments such. as described above, the front and' back sections usually arev made of. separate pieces which are stitched together at the sides, with the resulting vertically-extending seams meeting, or substantially meeting. the lengthwise undersleeve seam at the armhcle. This results inr all of the stresses and strain resulting from arm: movements being directed at one'point under the arm, with the result that the garment frequently tears, or the seam breaks at that point;A

Various proposals heretofore have been made with respect to garments whichv wouldv provide for greater freedom cf movement of the arms of the wearer. Such proposals have been such as to add materially to the cost of the garment; as

to cause the garment to present an unsightly ap- Q pearance; as not particularly adapted for knitted garments such as athletic jerseys, etc.; or otherwise have been objectionable so that they have not come into general use.

The primary object of the present invention is toY provide a sleeved garment of such character that greater freedom, of` movement of the arms is permitted and less stress and strain is placed on the garment, at the armpit, where the. vertical sideV seams normally meet the sleeves, and to provide such a garment which will. present a sightly appearance and which canbe madewithout materially increasing the cost thereof.

More specically, the present invention` contemplates a knitted or other garmentin whichv a special insert of material, elastic in the direction of the armholeof the garment, is inserted ,between each sleeve and body portion of the garment and extends circumferentially of the arnn hole at the bottom. thereof and preferably for at least a part of the extent thereof,` at the front and back of the garment. Such inserts may be ofv any suitable material elastic in the direction of the armhole,l but advantageously may be. of rib-knitted material so cutthat the wales extend transversely tothe armhole and substantially at right angles thereto at the bottom. The elastic inserts are of substantial width andform the parts of the garment normally formed by theA inner ends of the sleeves andthe body sections of the garment adjacent to them. The provision of such an insert not only permits greater elasticity inthe army region, and consequently greater freedom` of movement of. the arms of the wearer, but distributes the stresses and strains to two points at each sidewhere the seams at the side of. thebody section meet the elastic insert at the inner side thereof, and where the sleeve seams meet the elastic insert at the. outer side thereof. Thus, a more durable: garmentY` is provided.

The invention will be further described in connection with the accompanying drawing; in which Fig; 1 is a front elevation of arr athletic jersey embodying the present invention,

Fig; 2is;a1rearfview. of. the jersey shown injEig'. and l Fig. 3' is a horizontal sectional view'v online 3-3 of Fig; 2;,

Referring to;v the, drawings; the garment comprises iront and back sections I and 2. If the garment is an athletic jersey or shirt, as shown, the front and back sections I and 2, as well as the other parts of the garment to be described, will be of knitted material, in which case the front and back sections will be made of at knit material having the wales thereof extending vertically.

A cowl or shoulder section 3 having a neck 3 opening 4 is connected to the upper edges of the front and back sections I and 2 and forms the top of the garment. The cowl section preferably is made of rib-knitted material and has the wales thereof extending horizontally. t

Sleeves and 6 of fiat knitted material, similar to the at knitted material of the body sections I and 2, extend from opposite sides of the upper portion of the garment.

The upper parts of the front and back sections are cut back and upwardly from the armpit of the garment as shown at 1 and 8 and the sleeves do not extend inwardly to the center of the armpit as is generally customary in sleeved garments` i Sections 9 and I0 of rib-knitted material are inserted between the upper side edges of the front and back sections and the inner ends of the sleeves 5 and 6. The wales in the sections 9 and I0 run transversely to the armholes of the garment. At the bottom of the armhole the wales extend substantially at right angles thereto, while at the sides of the armhole the wales of the inserts 9 and I0 extend upwardly and outwardly as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Thus, the garment possesses maximum extensibility in the region of thearmholes and permits freedom of movement of the arms of the wearer in throwing and in other activities requiring more than the usual arm movements.

The front and back sections I and 2 are sewed to one another at the sides of the garment, as shown at II in Fig. 3. The sleeves each are made from one piece, the opposite edges of which are sewed together and form a seam I2 extending longitudinally along the underside of each sleeve.

In the usual sleeved garment of the general type disclosed, the sleeve seams and the seams at the sides of the front and back sections meet at the center of the armpit so that all stresses and strains on the garment resulting from movements of the arms are directed to one point under each arm with the result that the garment frequently tears or the seams break open at that point. However, with the inserts 9 and I0 between the sleeves and the body portion of the garment as described above, and the sleeve seams I2 and the side seams II terminating at opposite sides of the inserts, the stresses and strains on i the garment resulting from movement of the arms are distributed to two points I3 and I 4 under each arm so that there is considerably less danger of the garment tearing or breaking open at the seams at the armpit.

The invention has been particularly described in connection with an athletic jersey made wholly of knitted material but it is to be understood that Vsuch description is merely by way of exempliflcation and the invention is not limited to such garments, except to the extent set forth in the sub-joined claims. For example, the body portion of the garment, or the sleeves, or both, might be made of woven rather than knitted material, and the inserts 9 and I0 might be of elastlc material other than the rib-knitted material disclosed, provided, of course, that such material is elastic in the direction of the armhole.

I claim:

1. A garment comprising a body part made of knitted material having the wales thereof extending substantially vertically, sleeves made of knitted material having the wales thereof extend- Y Hat-knitted material and the inserts are made of rib-knitted material.

3. A garment of the kind described in claim 1 in which the Wales in the inserts extend upwardly and outwardly at the front and back of the garment.

4. A jersey or similar garment comprising front and back sections of knit material having the wales thereof extending substantially vertically, a cowl section having a neck opening, said cowl section being of knit material having the wales thereof extending horizontally, said cowl section extending to the arm regions of the garment at each side, sleeves of knitted material having the wales thereof extending longitudinally of the sleeves, and sections extending from the front edge of the cowl, around the arm region of the garment to the back edge of the cowl, between each sleeve and the body part of the garment, said sections being of knitted material having the wales extending transversely of the armhole and having greater extensibility peripherally of the armholes than the adjacent portions of the body part of the garment, whereby greater freedom of movement in the region of the armhole is provided.

5. A garment of the kind described in claim 4 in which the body part and sleeves are made of nat-knitted material and the cowl and the inserts between the sleeves and the body portion of the garment are made of rib-knitted material.

Great Britain Apr. 22, 1909 

